The subject matter described herein relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to a contact assembly for an electrical connector.
Electrical connectors used to plug a communication cable into an electrical system may include a housing that contains several conductors that form differential pairs. The differential pairs are configured to connect with corresponding differential pairs in a mating connector of the electrical system (e.g., a port) when the electrical and mating connectors are engaged. However, electrical connectors that are currently used may have certain limitations due to unwanted electromagnetic coupling between the differential pairs. For example, the operating speeds of M-series electrical connectors are limited to transmission rates of less than one gigabit per second. If current M-series electrical connectors were to operate at speeds above one gigabit/s, the unwanted electromagnetic coupling between the differential pairs would harm signal integrity and the performance of the connector. For example, the increase in near-end crosstalk (NEXT), far-end crosstalk, and/or return loss may render the connector unable to meet industry requirements. Accordingly, some electrical connectors are configured to reduce the negative effects of electromagnetic coupling. In particular, the contacts of each differential pair are offset so that each contact pair is not equidistant from the contacts of an adjacent differential pair.
However, known electrical connectors are not without their disadvantages. In particular, the offset contacts may create difficulty when coupling wires thereto. Often, a tool is required to join wires to the termination end of each contact. Additionally, known electrical connectors with offset contacts typically do not utilize insulation displacement contacts (IDCs). Generally, a differential pair of wires joined to IDCs must remain parallel to reduce crosstalk between the wires. However, the offset IDCs require that the wires be joined thereto in an offset configuration.
A need remains for an electrical connector that provides offset differential pairs, while enabling the use IDCs.